“Perry. Get up, Perry,” the herbalist said. Navea was a cold hearted woman, but she knew her way around a poultice. She had a long face and a short temper. “You’re wasting precious guard resting space. Get out.”

From what Levin had told me in his time resting in the barracks, Mast had returned to my unconscious body and Levin’s sputtering form upon the shore. He had been only slightly less confused than Levin was, and kindly took both of us to the barracks. From there, Levin had to try and tell whatever he could of our encounter with the spike feeder. Of course, given he was unconscious for most of it, they only had his confirmation of his abduction with Mash’s account, meaning that my words had been the missing piece.

Once I had recovered, the guard had brought me in for my own interview period. “Tell us what happened, Perry. How did Levin survive the spike eater?”

“There’s a pretty simple explanation, chief. I saved him.”

“You what?” Mash said, having been assigned to the duty of interviewing me.

“I saved him. I dived into the water, awakened my second tier and used all the tools at my disposal to kill the spike feeder. The corpse should still be at the bottom of the pond, which might also lead to another problem. There’s a channel down there that the spike feeder came in through. I’d say we need to plug it up, which would eliminate all the new fish we get yearly— a shame to be sure, but I think the village is worth being protected, don’t you?”

Mash rubbed his temples, staring at me with something that I thought was disdain. “And as for what actually happened?”

“W-what?” I sputtered. “You can find the corpse in there. It’s not like I could hide it.”

“Right,” he said, rolling his eyes. “But what’s the proof you killed it and not that it didn’t die of natural causes?”

“Oh, so spike feeders normally die of natural causes?”

“… Of wounds from another fight,” he amended, no shame on his face. Shithead didn’t want to believe me.

“The only wounds on it were from me. Maybe if you were paying more attention instead of running away you would have noticed what it looked like more.”

“Got back in time to help the both of you, didn’t I?” he retorted, looking all too pleased with himself.

“I guess,” I said. Didn’t want to bruise his ego too much. “Would you believe me more if I showed off my second tier features?”

Mash grit his teeth and nodded, and I summoned my platypus hands, the webbed claws overlaying my fingers. “Convinced?”

“I’m not convinced how that was sufficient to kill the spike feeder,” he snorted. “This is what an adequate second tier looks like.” He showed his own claws upon his hands, looking more fearsome than my webby appendages.

“Doesn’t matter, I still killed the spike feeder. I lured it in, stabbed it with my skinning knife, and before it ran away I played dead, which let it come close enough for me to stab it with my spurs, which for the record, are venomous.”

“Fine. What a good story. We’ll look into it. You continue to rest in the barracks,” Mash said, rolling his eyes back at me. I didn’t appreciate his dismissive tone, but they would have to be more accepting once the evidence corroborated the truth. I didn’t lie. I did all that I said I did.

And thus I was ejected by Navea, haven gotten no further updates from the town guard… which was strange. I was expecting at least a thank you by now, or a request to join them given they were going to have to close down the pond, and no pond meant no fisherman. She was lucky I was feeling proper or I would have made proper fuss as I left the barracks. It was going to be my new home soon enough. Was rude of her to eject me prematurely.

I stumbled about the village, smiling at the lack of smoldering homes and minimal damage. Looked like the guard did well, no doubt thanks in part to my killing the aquatic spike feeder. I needed to find someone in charge and get to the bottom of why I wasn’t accounted for. Where was my open invitation to join the guard? We would have lost Levin without me, and we couldn’t afford to have the pond open any further. Not with the potential of other spike feeders sneaking on through.

Around the corner of the bakery Levin’s parents ran, I spied Mash heading off. I couldn’t let him go. He was the one that shared what I had known with the guards. “Mash, wait up,” I cried, bolting after him.

He looked back at me, an audible groan dropping from his lips. “What do you want, Perry?”

“What do you mean what do I want? I’ve just gotten kicked out of the barracks. Why has no one gotten back to me yet?”

He raised one eyebrow, opening his lips before pursing them shut, thoughts still racing through his mind. “So you believe you’d still be in the barracks?” He finally managed, clearing the last of the coughs that emerged from his lips.

“Well, yeah?” I said, my voice rising upwards in confusion. “I killed a spike feeder, I saved Levin, and perhaps most importantly, the pond needs to close down. It’s a security gap. It can’t stand, which means there’s no more use for a fisherman in the village.”

He hummed a little, words percolating around his mouth. “Let’s see if we can get the boss to make things clearer for you. As a courtesy for all your hard work. I’m sure he can make time for our village savior.” The last words were barbed to hurt me, coated in sarcasm. Classic shithead Mash.

For all of his rudeness, that didn’t mean I was going to decline the offer. I nodded and followed after him back towards the barracks, where the captain of the guard was working. He was the only third tier in the village and his beast soul was that of the cobra, so he stood out in both skill and unique beast soul compared to the rest of the town guard. The rest tended to be a smattering of wolves, dogs and foxes.

Inside the captain was sitting at his desk, staring at me with a face not unlike the one Mash had worn shortly before. “Mash, what brings you and this villager to my room?”

“Perry here wants to understand what’s going on. Somehow it’s not clear to him and I thought you’d be best served to clearing things up.

The captain shook his head, frowning at Mash. “Another day where I have to clean up after a mess I didn’t make.”

A mess? Ouch. “Hi, just wondering why I didn’t get my invite to the town guard after my contribution for the town?”

Just blurting it out, nice and simple. He can’t take offense to that. I hoped.

“The others have predator souls, kid. You have a prey soul, and you have a necessary job for the village as a fisherman.”

“I killed one of the spike feeders invading the village through our pond! How are we supposed to continue having a fisherman if we seal the pond from any new fish?”

He scratched behind his ear, cheeks growing flushed. “Well, if you killed it, it must not have been a strong one. And while your concern about the channel is valid, we can’t do without the pond. We’ll just expand the village around the other side of the pond.”

I blinked my eyes a few times, unsure if I was seeing this man say these words in front of me, let alone hear the nonsense spilling from his lips. “Excuse me, the plan is to indefinitely expand the village to encompass the other side of the channel? Do we even know what feeds into that channel? Also, that spike feeder was dangerous… it nearly killed Levin.”

“Levin’s still in training as part of the town guard. Even an unprepared guard can be overcome by a weak spike feeder if not prepared.”

“And?” I prompted.

“And you have a prey soul. It’s not worth the time investing in you to bring you up to a similar level next to the rest of the guard.” There it was. Straight up garbage, yet again. I just proved it wrong and yet it wasn’t good enough.

“I literally saved Levin, and it isn’t safe having the pond, but you’re willing to take the risk of expanding the village just to deny me being trained with you?” He refused to meet my eyes, staring down at his desk.

“Understand properly now, Perry?” Mash interjected, his strong hand resting on my shoulder. His palm was pulling noticeably so for me to leave. I shook it off, glaring at him as I started my exit.

“I see that you’re all willing to choose something that’s more dangerous just so that you don’t have to train me, even though I’ve proven myself. Fine. I hear you all loud and clear. I want nothing to do with you too.”

The captain called out from within the room as I exited through the barracks, “Great to hear, Perry! We’re stronger together when we do what we’re meant to do. Don’t believe otherwise.”

I waved him and Mash off, muttering foul words under my breath. Typical guards. Accepting me into their fold would discredit everything that had happened before, even if my victory over the spike feeder hadn’t already ruined that premise. I was sure they were gonna give Mash the accolades for my victory if they hadn’t already. They just wanted me to live forever as the fisherman, content to have the pond remain a risk if it could end up killing me as the one most likely to frequent it.

Fuck them. I’m better than them. I can do better than them. I never thought it would come to this, but there was no other choice. If they wouldn’t accept me here, than the answer was to leave. I couldn’t live here any longer.

As I exited the barracks, my body collided with yet another person. I cursed under my breath, rising from the ground only to be met with a meaty hug. “Perry! I wanted to thank you again and here you were!” Levin exclaimed.

“Oh, Levin!” I said, “Glad to see you’re doing alright. You’ve been sleeping most of the time so I couldn’t quite check up on you given your… you know, drowning.”

“I can’t believe you saved me, Perry. But if anyone could, I knew it would be you. Thank you so much. Have they finally let you onto the guard?”

Oh Levin. Sweet, innocent, trusting Levin. “Ah no… they still don’t want me on the guard.”

“They what?” He bellowed, loud enough for the whole village to hear. “Is my life worth nothing to them? You saved it. You must be good enough to replace me then.”

“Not by their standards,” I muttered. “You know… I think they’d rather I die than me joining the guard. I might as well live up to their hopes. I’m going to leave, Levin. You’re welcome to join me if you’d like.”

“Oh Perry, you’re my best friend but I can’t. Ma and Pa depend on me, and even if the guard won’t take you, the village still needs the guard. I can’t. Let me go talk to the captain and get things sorted out.” He embraced me into a deep hug, ruffling my hair with his coarse hands.

I breathed in my good friend’s scent, and nodded. “Sure, you go do that.” His face was brimming with glee. All the better for this to be the way I would remember him. I was leaving one way or another, but I had one more goodbye to say first.

The burial mound had no individual identifiers for my mom and dad, but this is where they were. Returned to the ground from whence we all came, just like the rest of the village all the way back to the founding of it. “Mom, Dad… I’m sorry, but I’m going to leave. I’ve done everything I could to prove that I’m fit to be part of the guard, but even killing a spike feeder and saving my friend wasn’t enough. I hope you’re proud of me and continue to guide me. I love you.”

I felt lighter from saying those words. I could feel them listening to me, wherever they were. It made things feel like they were going to be alright. The only thing left to do was to pack up my last things, and then leave this place behind.